something always brings me back to you
by lover of the dark
Summary: It's been five years since Total Drama: Revenge of the Island aired, and subsequently, five years since Total Drama was cancelled. Now, the producers want a reunion special and Chris is determined to bring back his beloved idiots for one more season. The question is: will his troubles be worth it? Read on to find out! Rated T for mature themes and coarse language.
1. PROLOGUE

To the original twenty-two contestants of Total Drama Island, as well two of the additional contestants who joined the cast in Total Drama World Tour, Chris McLean found himself writing a letter to each and every one of them. He wasn't sure why he hadn't forced Chef Hatchet to do it- it was probably due to the fact that Chef was pretty illiterate, and the producers would have Chris' platter on the head if their message didn't get to the 24 contestants. At least, that's what Chris liked to tell himself.

If he were being honest, he missed the contestants, just the tiniest bit. The kids from Revenge of the Island were all right, but he didn't have three seasons to annoy them as much as he did the original kids, and Sierra and Alejandro had rubbed off on him. After Revenge of the Island, the show was cancelled: to this day, Chris isn't all too sure why. The ratings were great, and there were petitions going around for years demanding another season, but the producers didn't care; they seemed hell-bent on shutting down the show which kept Chris financed, and they succeeded.

Five years after the last episode of Revenge of the Island however, and Chris McLean got a call from an old friend... or an old nemesis, depending on how you looked at it. In any case, Blainely called with the great news that the producers wanted a reunion special, with all the original contenders from the first three series. The only problem was that the original contestants actually had to agree.

Chris wasn't sure he could convince _anyone _to agree, let alone all twenty-four of them. There were a few who were bound to be easy sell's once Chris assured them that it would be safer (oh, his nose is going to be _so _big by the end of recruiting these guys), but there were others like Heather, Courtney and hell, probably Alejandro, who would be dead-set against coming back to the show.

Chris would try his best, in any case. He really missed living the way he did back in the Total Drama days.

* * *

A week after that, all the previous Total Drama contestants found a letter addressed to them in their mail: some opened it immediately, barely believing they had mail that wasn't a bill or a warning or something of the like: other's put it to the side to open and read later, too preoccupied with prior engagements or their job: two threw it in the bin as soon as they saw it was from Chris McLean, but the majority chose to read whatever it was he had to say, if only out of kindness to their former host (which was more than he deserved, they knew).

Chris had written his number in each of the letter's he sent out, and he was surprised to wake up to a few text messages from various contestants, who wanted to set up a meeting with Chris and/or the producers before agreeing, and then there was Owen, who agreed straight off the bat.

He didn't receive anything at all from four of the contestants, however: Courtney, Heather, Duncan and most surprising of all, _Sierra _hadn't even sent a "thank you, but no thanks" in response. Chris decided that Sierra was in jail for stalking, and Duncan for being... well, Duncan. He knew Courtney and Heather weren't going to respond, but he was more than willing to track the two of them down.

The next few weeks consisted mainly of Chris talking to his former contestants, and he couldn't help but marvel slightly at how much each of them had changed: yes, they all were quite similar to the 16 year olds he'd met at Camp Wawanakwa all those years ago, but they'd changed in their own ways also. Last he'd heard from any of them, they'd just turned 19 and now the majority of them were 24.

Most of the contestants had replied to Chris' letter with a declination, but Chris was able to wear a few of them down into at least considering a reunion, whereas others had a bit more staying power, but Chris decided to hold a dinner for _all _former contestants (even Duncan and Sierra – if they were both really in jail, Chris had no trouble breaking them out for the night) to see if the group dynamic was still there: if it wasn't there, then what was he doing all this for? Chris didn't know what he'd do if they dynamic was gone.

He'd probably send them all to the island that night and send them all swimming with their old friends.

* * *

When Chris met up with Cody for a cup of coffee, Cody rushed to set the record straight with Sierra: she wasn't in jail at all, at least, not to his knowledge. She just moved a lot and the producers had given up on trying to keep track of her (and Chris was _definitely _angry when he found that out).

He'd met up with Gwen soon after, but the girl- _ahem, _woman, had no idea where her ex-boyfriend was. They'd broken up about a year after RotI, and neither had bothered to keep in touch. Geoff and Bridgette were more help, and they told Chris that Duncan had moved to London the week Chris' letters got sent out, so Duncan never received his letter. Chris asked Geoff if he could call Duncan from his phone, and Geoff was more than happy to oblige: Duncan and Chris actually had an all right conversation. The kid was still snarky as hell, but he'd matured a little and knew when to listen.

Duncan told Chris he'd come to the reunion dinner, but made no promises for the new season. When Duncan hung up, Bridgette said she thought Duncan only wanted to rub it in the others' faces how well he'd ended up, especially one person; whether that person was Gwen or Courtney, neither Bridgette or Chris could decide (Bridgette said Courtney, Chris said Gwen), but they were definitely curious to find out which one it was.

It took him a while to actually trap Heather into talking to him, but Heather eventually gave Chris half-an-hour to convince her coming back for another season was a good idea: they ended up talking for an hour, and Chris didn't even want to cut off his ears by the end of that hour. Much like Duncan, Heather agreed to attend the dinner, but made it very obvious she wasn't sure about the new season.

Bridgette tried to help Chris schedule a meeting with Courtney, as Courtney was absolutely _dead set _on not listening to him at all. It took a lot of lying on Bridgette's account, and Chris was surprised Bridgette even went through with it, but eventually Chris caught Courtney on his own; she was having a bad day and offered her a ride home, and it was an offer Courtney found hard to refuse. Unlike the other two, she stayed vague on whether she'd even come to his dinner, and even more vague on a potential return to the reality TV circuit, but Chris didn't expect much else from Courtney.

Thanks to Cody, Chris found Sierra quite easily. She was living with her parents, but Chris didn't care enough to ask why. Sierra seemed absolutely overjoyed at the prospect of meeting up with her fellow contestants, and told Chris she'd be very happy to sign up for a reunion season.

And just like that, Chris had talked to all of his former contestants and had 23 people who agreed to come to dinner. Geoff told Chris he'd trick Courtney into attending if she decided she wasn't coming, so Chris felt it was okay to mark that number up to 24 and told Chef Hatchet to make the 24 best dishes he'd ever made in his life.

Chris just _really _wanted to make sure that goddamn dynamic was still there- otherwise, he was as good as dead.

* * *

**A/N: Oh, hello! Welcome to my new fic! I haven't written on fanfiction in about a year, but I've been on a TD kick lately, and this just kind of came to mind, and wouldn't leave. If I need to clarify: nothing past season FOUR has happened in this universe. So, no All-Stars season. BUT DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT? OH GOSH? SO AWESOME?**

**Anywho, my next chapter should be longer and hopefully, a lil' more IC for Chris. I just decided to tweak the inner working of his mind (or how I see his mind working) to suit this fic, but when we've got him talking to the contestants and stuff, he'll slip back into the Chris we know and love. I hope you enjoyed this, and if you did, make sure to review! ;)**


	2. CHAPTER 1: THE REUNION I

Chris McLean couldn't help but smile as he pulled his car up into the driveway at his mansion: there were already several cars littering the driveway, and by the thumbs up Chef was giving him, there was a good vibe going on in the dinner hall of McLean mansion.

Of course, there's still people to come, and they could totally ruin whatever good vibes were going on in the hall, so Chris decided to ditch his plan of being "fashionably late" (to be fair, Duncan said he wasn't going to be there until 10, and that was about four hours away) and go in and make sure Chef wasn't bullshitting him.

"Nice to see you again, Chef," Chris commented off-handedly, snickering at Chef's tuxedo. He'd half expected the guy to wear his beloved apron get up or his army uniform, but was secretly glad he hadn't. "Good choice of clothing."

Chef furrowed his brows at Chris, but chose not to say anything on the matter. "Bridgette called a little while ago, and wanted you to know that she, Geoff and Courtney were going to be late. Of course, I told her to tell you herself but then she gave the phone to Courtney and... you don't want to know how that ended." Chris was a _little _weirded out by the sinister grin Chef was wearing, but he knew better than to try and ask Chef what the heck he was on about; he'd just ask Geoff later on.

"I'm sure." Chris said simply, walking past his old co-worker and into the mansion, heading straight for the hall. On the way, he ran into Beth and Lindsay, who had gotten lost along the way: he _knew _he should've asked Chef to put up signs, but Chris showed Beth and Lindsay the way to the dinner hall and did his best to _try _and catch up with them.

Lindsay was still as blonde as ever, and was one of the old contestants' who had agreed to come on for a reunion series after they had a meeting, but Beth was still a bit more reserved. Since the last time he'd seen her, Beth had become much more confident in herself, and way less likely to start spitting on him in the middle of a conversation.

Chris half-listened to Lindsay go on about her life; she'd moved to Paris with Tyler (who, apparently was trying to park the car still) and had become a pretty big name in the fashion industry. Chris wasn't surprised, if he were being honest: she was freakishly pretty back when she was 16, and she'd only improved with age. Tyler had become an overnight youtube sensation with what was _supposed _to be an exercise video, but was taken as a troll video: Lindsay didn't seem to mind though, as he was in high demand for kids' birthday and crap like that.

Lindsay also filled Chris in on Beth's life, and Beth didn't even object to not getting to tell Chris herself. Beth had become an orthodontist, and married some ass who stayed in New York over coming to the reunion dinner. Seriously- Lindsay called him an _ass_, and if Lindsay called someone an ass, they were a shitty-ass person. Beth didn't even object to the adjective used to describe her husband, and busied herself with looking at the paintings adorning the wall.

"Why do you think they want a reunion special, Chris?" Beth asked finally, as they neared the dinner hall.

It was a good question; Chris wasn't even sure of the answer. Blaineley had just called him up one day and said the producers wanted a new season. Chris didn't even think to question the she-devil, and got to work on recruiting the old contestants straight away.

"Network's going down the sink hole, Beth." Chris replied, knowing that his statement was quite true: as much as their network was popular ten years ago, the ratings had gone down once the producers had cut a load of shows, Total Drama being one of them. "You idiots were the cast of their best rating show ever! Personally, I think it was all me. I was as handsome back then as I am now and girls like that."

Even Lindsay snorted at that one.

"Here we are!" Chris announced throwing open the doors to the grand hall, where some of the contestants were chatting away. Lindsay and Beth bounded on over to the group of girls who had formed around the chocolate fountain, whereas Chris walked up to the few guys who were watching the football. "Hola, amigos!"

Harold grunted in response, not too fussed with the football and kept playing with that goddamn yo-yo of his, but DJ and Trent gave him a warmer reception.

"Hey, man. What's goin' on?" Trent greeted, sticking his hand out. Chris shook it, taking in Trent's physical appearance. Trent was one of the few who Chris hadn't been able to meet in person, but they'd talked over the phone about him returning for a new season, and Trent was rather willing; Chris was surprised Trent actually wanted to come back, though. The guy had made it pretty big since TDI, but he was probably a little nostalgic or something like that.

"Chris, my man! How's it going?" DJ grinned, slapping Chris on the shoulder as he shook Trent's hand. Chris was kind of half-glad that Trent and DJ were the two guys who were there first (Harold didn't even count- Chris doubted he had any balls, even after eight years of knowing the guy), as they were two of the only guys Chris had really liked when they were filming the show. Geoff was the other, and he really did have a soft spot for Alejandro.

The three talked for a while, before Tyler showed up and Chris got the _hell _out of there, because he really needed to put away his valuables with Tyler in the room.

* * *

A couple of hours later, and _everyone _had turned up: sans Duncan, but Chris had commandeered Geoff's phone to keep reminding Duncan that he said he'd be there by 10. Duncan stopped replying around nine-thirty, and Chris assumed that he was on his way.

They finally sat down to dinner then, and Chris got to talk to the others about what they'd been up to since he'd saw them last.

Bridgette and Geoff had gotten married in Malibu, which was the last time quite a few of the contestants had seen each other. Geoff still had photos and gladly allowed Chris to go through the photo gallery on his iPhone, but Chris took more than a few selfies for his old friend to find later on.

Bridgette had started up some successful charity to save ocean animals, and was tearing it up on the pro circuit in her free time. Geoff'd gotten into the pro circuit too, but after a nasty tumble of his board, decided that maybe being a surf instructor was a better idea.

Noah and Cody were apparently "best friends" and had been living together since RofI ended (both Alejandro and Chris whispered "gay" under their breaths, but neither of the two boys in question seemed to mind). Noah had become a tutor for some ridiculous reason, but was apparently one of the best in his district, whereas Cody had become a comic book illustrator.

When asked if either had a girlfriend, Cody said no and Noah said yes, to everybody's surprise. However, Noah wouldn't reveal anything about the mystery lady and Chris made a mental note to find out who would date the sarcastic little bookworm.

Gwen declined to comment on what she'd been doing since she and Duncan broke up, but was more than happy to tell everyone that she was single and loving it. Courtney and Heather snickered disbelievingly to themselves, and Gwen was then more than happy to glare at them for the remainder of the "catch-up" session.

Everybody knew what Trent had become: a brand new teenage heartthrob, something akin to Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber. But Trent told them about how his little sister had passed away due to cancer, and said that she was why he kept performing. The girl's all cooed in response, apart from Izzy, Gwen and Eva, and DJ and Geoff rubbed his shoulder's comfortingly.

Awkwardly, Izzy decided to change the mood by telling everyone of her latest escapades. Apparently, she'd been living in the sewers under Los Angeles and had become Queen of the Rats. Owen told them all it was lies, and that he and Izzy have been living together in Ontario for about a year. When the two were quizzed on whether they were together or not, Owen very gladly confirmed everyone's suspicions. Apparently, he and Izzy had met whilst they were both interning at a local newspaper and they got back together.

Courtney and Heather were next, and everyone (minus Chris, Bridgette, Geoff and surprisingly, Trent) was surprised to hear that the girls had formed a somewhat friendship after their rocky relationship on Total Drama. They'd both gone to the same college in Toronto and both majored in Law, and they'd decided to put aside their differences and stick together. They were both working at the same Law firm also, and Courtney explained that they were assistants to the two big chiefs.

When quizzed on their relationship status', Heather gave a firm and resounding, "No." Courtney elaborated further on her friend's response, saying she'd just broken up with her long-term boyfriend. Nobody missed how Alejandro perked up on his side of the table. When Courtney was asked on her relationship status, Duncan decided to show up and apologized for being late.

"Sorry, sorry! The plane was delayed." Duncan explained, plopping himself between Courtney and Bridgette. Chris was less than impressed, and went back to quizzing Courtney.

Eventually, Courtney told everyone she was, indeed, in a relationship but refused to say who with. Half the table assumed she was Noah's mystery girl, but Heather and Geoff's snorts were enough to dispel that rumour.

Katie and Sadie filled everyone in next; apparently they were both fashion designers, working for rival companies but still managing to remain best friends. Chris wasn't surprised. They were both single, but Katie said her relationship status was "kind of complicated". Nobody questioned her on it, but Lindsay and Katie whispered as Sadie went on about her designs for a little while, and by the end of it, Lindsay looked pretty proud of herself.

DJ became a chef, not to anyone's surprise. He and his mom were still close, and he often donated to Bridgette's charity. Basically, DJ turned out how everyone expected him too: a total sissy. Chef told everyone that DJ moonlighted as a bouncer at Chris' club though, and most of the guys dissolved into laughter.

Everybody tuned out Harold as he went on about how he'd become _totally _ninja. Duncan was the only one who paid him any mind, and it was only so he had material to annoy the kid with later on. Every so often, he'd make a smartass comment and Bridgette would smack him upside the head, but Harold completely ignored him, going on and on about his "totally hot" relationship with Leshawna, who was ignoring him too.

Leshawna started talking over Harold soon, and everyone else tuned right back into the conversation. Leshawna let everyone know how she'd become the new "Oprah" with her new show, 'Leshawna!' She completely neglected to mention Harold in her rundown, but nobody was all that surprised. He'd always liked her more than she liked him.

Sierra started screeching about her life next (like, literally _screeching_), and everybody did their best to block her out. Cody managed to calm her down, and Sierra started again, quietly letting everyone know that her blog was the most viewed blog _ever_ – even more than Perez Hilton's blog! Everyone was slightly surprised, but didn't dare let it show. They really didn't need Sierra to get upset, since she was bound to start screeching again if she did.

Justin went on next, saying that he'd become a model for Katie's fashion company and that he was engaged to a lovely lady called Michelle. Beth deflated a little at the news despite her own marriage, but Justin was quick to say that the wedding was still a year away and that anything could happen in a year.

Eva told everyone she was now the head of the most popular gym in the world, and that she and her boyfriend of three years had adopted a little boy by the name of Christopher. Eva didn't allow Chris to get excited however, saying that instead of calling him Chris, they called him Topher.

Zeke went next, telling everyone that he'd moved to L.A. and had become one of the talent scouts for a big music label, and that it was _all _due to him that Trent got a recording contract. Courtney, Heather and Trent quite nearly broke down in tears they were laughing so hard and Trent denied the claim as soon as he and the girls had calmed down. Apparently, Zeke had actually _blocked _Trent from getting a record deal at his label, and he'd gone and signed with his main competitor. Safe to say, nobody was really interested in what Zeke had to say from that point on.

Alejandro and Duncan both declined to go next, but Chris eventually threw a fork at Alejandro and demanded that he tell his story.

Begrudgingly, Alejandro told the story of how he went through serious physical therapy to come back from his terrible fate at the end of world tour, and how the last six years had been full of that. He'd just fully recuperated, and he was looking forward to getting back out there, and thought the show was the best way to do that.

After a little bit coaxing from Geoff and Bridgette, Duncan told his former opponents how he'd ended up moving to London and starting up his punk rock band again (Courtney and Gwen both smiled fondly to themselves, before resuming glaring at each other). Duncan had just finished his college degree and was ready to become a counsellor, as he hoped he could steer kids away from ending up like him when he was in high school and on the show. He still had that ridiculous mohawk and those facial piercings, but seemed a lot more mature.

When the contestants were done, they all tucked into their entrée, and talked amongst themselves happily. Chris was a little surprised at the groups that had formed–as he suspected, there was Geoff, Bridgette and Duncan. Gwen sat by herself and picked at her meal, not looking all that happy to be there, but Leshawna tried to perk the girl up, to no avail. Harold did his best to get Leshawna's attention, but Leshawna successfully ignored him. On Harold's other side, Noah and Cody were chatting to themselves and sometimes bought Zeke into the conversation, but did their best to exclude him from their conversation. Then there was Chris, who was speaking to DJ, Katie and Sadie mostly, whilst also putting his own input into the other conversations going around the table. On Sadie's left side, there was Beth, Lindsay and Tyler who were just chatting away about everything and nothing–mostly, Tyler was trying to get details of Beth's new husband, but Beth remained tight-lipped. Eva sat beside the trio, straight-faced as she ate her dinner silently. Sierra was sitting there on her phone, probably tweeting about the dinner and how "awesome" it was that they were all reunited again. Justin was on her other side, sitting there awkwardly as Owen and Izzy were talking loudly beside him. Next to Owen and Izzy, was Alejandro, who was doing his best to force his way into the conversation between Trent, Courtney and Heather.

Honestly, he thought they'd been quite different from the groups that had formed on Total Drama. The only people who were extending outside their social circle were Heather, Courtney and Trent and they were doing it with each _other_. He was going to have to bug Trent later on as to why he was suddenly buddy-buddy with everyone's favorite former C.I.T. and Queen Bee.

There was one thing Chris was sure of, however: the dynamic was sure as _hell _still there.

* * *

**A/N: WHOA ITS ME AGAIN**

**I generally NEVER update this quick, so don't get your hopes up. I'm just really inspired and on holiday, so I thought I'd sit and get this done with! This story is quite a departure from my older stuff, as I tend to focus on dialogue and not setting a scene/actions/etc. I'll probably fall into that habit when dialogue becomes a bigger part of the storyline, like next chapter, but I'm sure I'll have chapters like this in the future. :) **

**Next time!: Noah and Courtney come clean about their partners, Chris bugs Trent a lot, and Duncan decides to spike the punch. AKA, chaos ensues.**

**Of course, I may be wrong about that. I've got the next chapter planned out to the T, but my muse tends to go nutso when I'm actually writing. See y'all soon (maybe tomorrow)!**

**REVIEW REPLIES (as my messaging system makes me nervous):**

**CessLizz: Thank you, love! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last one. :D**

**iheartu101: And the same to you, my dear. I hope you keep loving this story!**


	3. CHAPTER 2: THE REUNION II

Soon after dinner, Chris asked Geoff if he'd like to man the DJ deck and put on some tunes for everyone: once Geoff and Beth convinced Lindsay that they hadn't taken DJ and constructed him into some type of desk, Geoff happily took his position up on the DJ desk and sorted through the mass of CD's Chris had stored in the compartments of the desk.

"So, dessert will be served in an hour or so!" Chris waved goodbye to his contestants and basically ran out of the room, going up to the room Chef had been hiding in during meals. Chris knew it wasn't his best decision to film the contestants at what was supposed to be their reunion dinner, but he needed to know what made these kids tick now: it had been a long time since they were 16, and some had changed quite a bit.

The majority of the ex-contenders didn't bother to even say goodbye to their former host, but the group he'd been talking to waved back at him.

As soon as Chris left the room, it was almost as if everyone had become a bit looser; they'd stopped carrying themselves politely, and soon enough, there were swear words floating around the room (mostly courtesy of Duncan) and the groups were starting to bleed into one another.

A loud whistle broke through the sound barrier, and Trent blushed once everyone started staring at him. "Heather's got a question for you guys."

Heather smiled, stood up and flicked her hair over her shoulder. It had grown longer than most of the contestants had ever seen it, and even Harold had to admit, it suited her quite well. "So! Do any of you actually want to do this stupid reunion special?"

A few hands raised slowly: DJ, Owen, Izzy, Sierra, Bridgette, Katie, Sadie, Lindsay and Tyler were the only ones willing to actually put their hands up, but Geoff, Alejandro and Beth all rather tempted to do so as well. The other twelve contestants stared at the ones who had put their hands up like they'd grown another head.

"_Why_?" Noah asked, his tone still dreadfully deadpan. "Was it because this experience was _oh-so-lovely_?" He added, reverting back to the sarcastic tone he was so well known for.

"Well, no..." Bridgette said hesitantly, wondering why she was the one that had to speak up. "But if we hadn't signed up for the show, we never would've met each other and–" A few snorts interrupted whatever Bridgette was going to say next. "Like I was about to _say_," Bridgette pressed on, shifting closer to the empty seat beside her as opposed to staying next to Duncan, "I never would've met my husband if it wasn't for this show! I owe it the best years of my life!"

"Bridge, you know I love you, but... you had a good experience on Total Drama." Courtney pointed out, sticking her head past Duncan's and looking at Bridgette kindly. "Some of us had our lives ruined by it–nobody can take me and Heather seriously when we're taking their calls at the firm. I know for a fact that Geoff gets laughed at whenever he gets a new class for his instructing sessions." Geoff adjusted his hat at that, trying his best to cover up his hurt expression and busied himself with trying to find good music.

"Yeah, but... would you take it back, Court? Everything that happened? It made you the person you are today!" DJ asked, and Courtney whipped around to face him. "Like, would you be as strong as you are now if it weren't for Total Drama?"

Courtney pursed her lips, her eyes softening for just a moment as she took in what her old team mate had said. "I could've done without falling in love with an idiot who cheated on me." She said coldly, but her tone wasn't directed at the man she was talking to: instead, it was directed at the manboy sitting next to her. "I would've gotten on just fine if it wasn't for Total Drama. I'd be taken seriously, and so would Heather. I wouldn't have to deal with _children _screaming that I'm a jealous bitch every other day of my life, and I wouldn't have to deal with muggers targeting me because I used to be famous."

DJ tilted his head softly, trying to figure out how he was supposed to debate with Courtney: she'd always been good at an argument, and the only person who could ever keep up with her was too busy staring into space with an ugly expression to bother arguing with her.

"And what about those fans that absolutely _love _Courtney?" DJ wondered out loud. "Because I get asked about you way more than any other contestant." It wasn't exactly a lie, DJ supposed. Duncan and Courtney gave each other a fair run for their money when it came to curious fans.

"There's a very low number of those fans." Courtney replied, her tone a mixture of a number of things: DJ decided hurt was the one she was trying to cover up. "It doesn't matter. I only came to this thing because Geoff and Trent promised they'd watch Beauty and the Beast with me tomorrow night."

"Isn't tomorrow like, your birthday?" Izzy asked loudly, making Courtney basically jolt in fright. "Yeah, it is! I remember because I was in Toronto last year around this time and the Starbucks I went too was holding a party for Courtney Ramirez!" Izzy clapped, jumping up on her seat. "I saw you and you and _you_!" Izzy pointed at Courtney, Heather and Trent who all stared back at her.

"Yeah, okay, I'm gonna address the elephant in the room." Leshawna said, and motioned for Izzy to sit down. "Since when were you three even friends? Didn't Heather make it seem like Trent cheated on Gwen?" Heather and Trent exchanged a small glance and shrugged at one another. "And _Heather_, you hated Courtney in World Tour!" Heather raised her eyebrows, looking severely unimpressed.

"Our firm represented Trent in a case two years ago." Heather replied. "Some dumb chick claimed that Trent stole one of her songs and apparently had "proof", so he came to the best law firm in Toronto. It was me and Courtney's first case we helped with there."

Trent and Courtney glanced at each other, smiling secretly to one another. Then, Courtney continued, "Trent didn't recognize us at first. I don't blame him, actually: after Total Drama, me and Heather totally reinvented ourselves." It was hard to believe, looking at the two girls: they looked pretty similar to the Courtney and Heather that had endured three seasons of torture with some of the other contestants. "But eventually, he caught us and... we've been really good friends since, right Trent?"

Trent nodded his agreement.

"But anywho- Courtney, you do realize you were like, one of the most popular contestants in Total Drama history, or...?" Sierra asked, getting the group back on track. "It was Owen, Duncan and then _you_. I did a poll and all. You and Duncan were literally two points apart."

Gwen raised her eyebrow at the news, wondering how the hell two people as confrontational as Duncan and Courtney made it into the top 3 contestants.

"Why, though?" Gwen asked, unable to contain herself. "She was definitely one of the least favorite contenders _in _the game." A few contenders nodded in agreement, and Courtney rolled her eyes in response.

"Can we _please _stop talking about me?! Why not quiz Noah on why he doesn't want to go back?" Courtney gestured wildly in Noah's direction, which caused Noah to glare at the girl.

"Thanks for throwing me to the wolves, Ramirez." Noah said sarcastically, whilst Courtney muttered an apology. "I've got a good life. I just don't see the point of giving it up for another season of this piece of crap show." Noah explained anyway.

"Yo, bookworm, who's your girlfriend?" Duncan asked, suddenly tuning back into the conversation. Half of him was pissed Noah had a girlfriend whilst he didn't; Geoff had filled him in on all he missed, for some stupid reason.

Noah arched an eyebrow, nervously glancing away from Duncan. "Why does it matter, Duncan?"

Duncan mirrored Noah's eyebrow, but looked much more menacing. "Come on, nerdling. I'm curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat." Harold reminded Duncan, unable to resist getting a remark in there. He regretted it though, as Duncan turned a glare onto him.

"Satisfaction bought it back, Doris," Duncan reminded him, his tone razor sharp; honestly, he just wanted to make the idiot pee himself again. "Never heard that part of the fable?"

"Technically, it's not a fable." Courtney cut in, rolling her eyes. "You wanna know a fable? The hare and the tortoise, that's a fable! The curious cat is just a wives' tale."

Duncan ignored his ex-girlfriend with some difficulty, but managed to focus on pissing off Howard. "Would you like me to imprint the _wives tale _on your brain? The whole thing?" Duncan cracked his knuckles, and smirked once he heard Harold's audible gulp.

"Stop it." Bridgette said, yanking Duncan back by his ear.

"Fuck it, Bridgette." Duncan said, slapping her hand away and rubbing his now reddened ear a fair bit in an effort to return it to its normal colour, and most of the table started laughing at the poor guy.

Whilst the group was calming down, Geoff finally found a CD he approved of and as soon as they'd calmed down, a dance beat was pounding through the gigantic hall and Lindsay's squeal of how much she loved this song was quite possibly louder than the music itself. Tyler laughed and took his girlfriend out the makeshift dance floor everyone assumed Chef had set up, managing _not _to trip on the way.

Duncan offered Bridgette a dance, and Bridgette found herself agreeing: she usually would decline his offer, as the two never really got along. It was usually Geoff and Duncan, not Duncan and Bridgette, but she had missed the boy just a little whilst he was away in London and took the opportunity to catch up with him.

Justin and Beth went off to dance, to nobody's surprise, if the group were being honest. They'd been staring at each other for the entire meal and truth be told, it was getting a little creepy so they all encouraged the two to go and get their sexual tension out, despite the fact they were engaged to different partners.

Katie convinced DJ to take her for a little spin around the dance floor, despite the fact everyone swore they'd never even spoken before. They seemed quite comfortable with each other, however, as they simply swung to the beat of the song, chatting quietly to one another.

Hesitantly, Heather allowed Alejandro to dance with her and the two simply danced circles around the other dancers. They were both competitive and perfectionists, and when they were on the dance floor with complacent, content and clumsy people, they were bound to be best on floor.

Izzy and Owen joined the group of the dance floor, not really dancing to the beat, but just dancing to their own groove: nobody expected much else of the couple. They always were a bit left of field.

Lastly, Courtney offered Trent her hand and the man took it with a small grin and they joined the mass of people of the dance floor and were truly the only couple to truly look like a _couple_ – Lindsay and Tyler were doing their best not to end up tripping over each other; Bridgette and Duncan were standing as far apart as possible, whilst still chatting away to one another; Justin and Beth had... well, disappeared so they didn't count; Katie and DJ were probably the only ones giving Courtney and Trent a run for their money, as they were all smiles as they talked to one another; and Heather and Alejandro seemed to focused on one-upping the other, that they completely ignored any hint of romance amongst one another.

Safe to say, Gwen wasn't very happy seeing her ex-boyfriend and nemesis dancing with one another. She would've been fine if it was Courtney and Noah, or Sadie and Trent, but no–they _had _to dance together. "Cody, dance with me." Gwen demanded, glancing at the boy in question.

"Why?" Cody near-whined, wanting to go back to his conversation with Noah: it'd been years since he'd felt anything for his teenage crush, and he didn't feel like reigniting that flame, not in any way.

"Just dance with me," Gwen pressed, standing up and walking to Cody's side of the table, grabbing his hand and basically dragging him to the dance floor.

"... Right." Noah deadpanned, as he glanced over at Harold and Leshawna with his brows furrowed. "Is she _always _like that now? She reminds me of a mix of Heather and Courtney back when we were on the show." Noah asked curiously, not knowing how on the money he actually was.

"My girl's just nervous about seeing everyone again," Leshawna lied easily, feeling slightly worried about her friend. "Give her a while and she'll be fine." Harold scoffed, and Leshawna elbowed him in the ribs. "All right, me and my man are going dancing!" Noah felt just a little sympathy for Harold: judging from what he'd seen on the show, Leshawna was a terrible dancer. "Talk to you later, little man."

Noah glanced around the table at the remaining party-goers who had stayed at the table, and grimaced going down into the bag he'd bought and bringing out his favorite book to read until Cody returned to resume their conversation.

* * *

"You know what, Ramirez?" Duncan and Bridgette had somehow ended up near Courtney and Trent, and they could pink up parts of the conversation transpiring between the other two.

"What, Daniels?" Courtney responded, and whilst Duncan couldn't see her, he knew that little eyebrow of hers had gone up with that statement. "If this is that stupid 'I made you say "what"!' joke again, I'm going to knee you in the balls." Both Trent and Duncan cringed at that–they both knew how painful Courtney could get when it came to kneeing guys in the groin.

"I swear it's not that!" Trent said quickly, causing Courtney to giggle at him. "I'm just... kind of glad you decided to come." Trent explained, smiling coyly at Courtney.

"Why?" Courtney questioned, but not even Duncan could deny she sounded gratified at the comment. "I was going to be in town for the next two weeks, anyway–besides, we _live _together, Trent."

Trent shook his head, knowing that Courtney was bound to miss his point. "You know if you weren't here, I'd be stuck by myself. I mean, I'd have Heather, but then she'd go off and compete with Alejandro." Trent elaborated. "But really, two weeks? I thought you were heading right back home."

Courtney nodded, conceding. "I suppose–I think you would've tried to talk to Gwen if I wasn't here, though, and that's not exactly a bad thing, is it?" Courtney shrugged at Trent's next comment, and Duncan could tell she was unsure of how to reply. "I decided to stay a little longer. Catch up with Bridge and Geoff, I guess. I told DJ I'd meet his mom and visit his restaurant with Heather, too- and one of our firm's most wanted clients lives here, so..."

Trent almost scoffed. "Excuse me, but I _have _a girlfriend right now, and she's way better to me than Gwen ever was." Again, Courtney started giggling quietly. "Mm, well, doesn't your sister live here?"

Once the giggles had subsided, Courtney replied, "Mm, well, this girlfriend must be pretty good to you. Are you gonna leave her buried alive too?" Duncan almost laughed at the memory, but Bridgette ended up leading him away from the two.

"You're still into her, aren't you?" Bridgette asked quietly, as soon as they were out of the couple's hearing range. "Courtney, I mean. Not Gwen."

"Mhm." Duncan replied shortly, grabbing Bridgette's hand and leading her towards Geoff's DJ booth. "She's got a boyfriend now, so it doesn't matter." Duncan muttered, just low enough that Bridgette had to strain to hear.

"Maybe you could talk to her?" Bridgette supplied, almost hopefully.

"Why do you care, Bridgette?" Duncan retorted shortly, though he was honestly wondering about the answer. They weren't that close, and they both knew that: however, they'd always been forced together in one capacity or another.

"Court's my friend, and you made her happy, in some weird way." Bridgette explained softly, before skipping on over to Geoff's booth and leaving Duncan in her apparent dust.

"Fuck off," Duncan muttered under his breath, going for a drink and finding that Chris had skimped on the alcohol of all things, and only offered some shitty punch. "And fuck you too." Duncan added darkly, finding his flask and tipping to contents into the bowl.

* * *

"Hey, bookworm." Duncan's voice caused Noah to roll his eyes, but he looked up from his book nonetheless. "You never answered my question – who's your girlfriend?"

Noah twisted his mouth to the side, throwing his bookmark into his book and closing it. "You watch Revenge of the Island?" Duncan nodded his confirmation, and Noah sighed. "Dawn. She's my girlfriend."

"You're kidding, right?!" Duncan couldn't help but collapse onto his chair due to sheer laughter, and wiped away his tears. The two were quite an odd match–the uptight bookworm and the freaky zen chick? That could never last. "Oh, that's gold." Duncan wheezed, shaking his head to himself.

"Thanks, Duncan." Noah said bluntly, opening his book back up and continuing on.

"What did you do to poor Noah now?" Oh, that was the voice Duncan _really _wanted to hear, and he rolled his eyes to himself as he turned to face Courtney. "Well?" Duncan smirked at the glass of punch in her hand and he glanced over Courtney's shoulder to see Trent now dancing with Heather.

"Just got out who his girlfriend was–your turn now, Princess. Who's the unlucky guy?" Duncan quirked his eyebrow, his smirk was quite possibly driving Courtney crazy. "I guess he doesn't like the ability to reproduce, does he?"

"Oh, shut up." Courtney snapped, sitting herself down in her original seat beside Duncan. "Who's Noah's girlfriend? Is it someone around here?" God, Courtney really hoped not.

"Right here, guys." Noah commented, not even looking up from his book; his tone lacked any real malice, but actually sounded a little amused.

"Yeah, we know," Duncan dismissed the younger man and turned to face Courtney. "Dawn from Revenge of the Island, who would've thunk it, huh?"

Courtney furrowed her brows, looking unimpressed with Duncan's gossip. "Um... everybody? I thought it might've been Dawn, but I wasn't sure. Me and Bridgette were talking about it on our way here, actually– she agreed that they'd be a cute couple."

Noah glanced up and smiled at Courtney, before glancing right back down at his book. "What about your boyfriend, Courtney?"

Courtney scrunched her nose up slightly. "I bet you've already guessed!"

"Of course I have, but our favorite juvenile delinquent hasn't," Noah responded, sounding terribly bored with the conversation, though he couldn't deny playing with the once great pairing of Duncan and Courtney wasn't any fun at all.

"C'mon, Princess!" Duncan whined, completely ignoring what Noah had said; yeah, Duncan hadn't guessed but he had a pretty good idea of who Courtney was about to say, he just wanted to deny it for a little longer. Was that so bad?

"I've been dating Trent for a year and a half." Courtney said slowly, watching Duncan for any hint of a reaction: hell, she really wanted to see a little jealousy spark in those teal eyes of his. "Shit, it's actually really hot in here." Courtney mumbled, fanning herself with the menu Chris had provided them.

"Did you actually just swear?!" Duncan grinned, but it was pretty obviously forced. How in the fuck was he supposed to tease his princess when she was dating some guy who thought he was the next Elvis Priestly?

"Shut up, Duncan!" Courtney whined, fanning herself more frantically with her menu. "Seriously, are _neither _of you hot?"

Noah shrugged in response, looking quite snug in his sweater vest and suit pants–his fashion sense got worse with age, Duncan noted.

"Hey, Princess, what a hint?" Duncan asked, and couldn't help but snigger to himself. Of _course _Courtney got hot when she was drunk. He could've used that knowledge when they were still dating. "I spiked the punch."

Courtney glanced over at Duncan, her dark cheeks rosy. "Are you kidding me?!"

* * *

Even though Chris now knew the answer to the question he wanted to ask Trent, he couldn't help but still annoy the guy–why the hell would a guy like Trent date a girl like _Courtney_? Chris was determined to find out, and returned to the hall with the sole purpose of figuring out the answer to his questions.

"Trent, my man–we gotta catch up."

* * *

**A/N: Good luck, Trent! Again, super speedy update o.o I don't know what's happening. I may be able to update sometime tomorrow, depending on whether I'm busy or not, or suddenly struck with writers block. This chapter took about seven hours to write, so I hope it's okay! Let me know if I've created any gaping plot holes, and I'll do my best to patch them right up. Sorry for the lack of Sadie/Zeke/Eva/Sierra in this chapter, but Sierra's pretty big in the next chapter-I've no idea how to write either Zeke, Eva or Sadie, so I'll probably end up neglecting them at various points in the story. If I've dropped a character, let me know too! 25 (including Chris) characters are hard to keep a handle on, so I'd appreciate your help. :)**

**REVIEW REPLIES:**

**Munchlax Jr: Is that a good or a bad thing? Either way, thanks for reading! :)**

**CessLizz: Babe, it was a pain trying to include them all and give them believable backstories. Thanks for liking it, though!**

**JesselyricsR5: Oh, gosh no! Courtney/Noah is a big NO-NO for me. I tend to ship Noah with Dawn, as evidenced with this chapter, or Heather, but that's a story for another time. Courtney generally stays in DxC shipping territory, though I do sometimes slip up and have TxC feels (I'm also guilty of Courtney and Scott shipping feels too now). This chapter was a product of the former, I suppose. Expect a lot of Courtney/Noah interaction in this story, though, since they're one of my ultimate BROTP's. Thanks for loving the story, and I hope you keep reading, despite the Courtney/Noah interaction I've planned out. :D**

**NEXT TIME: Dessert is served, and we find out why exactly Duncan and Gwen broke up, Geoff reveals more about Courtney and Trent and how they came to be to DJ and Duncan, and Beth and Justin are still missing. Will we ever find them? Will Duncan ever stop calling Courtney 'Princess'? Will Sadie get butthurt over Katie leaving her to dance with DJ? Will Heather and Courtney tell the truth of how they really met up in Toronto? And lastly, will Gwen ever smile? Tune in next time to find out!**


	4. CHAPTER 3: THE REUNION III

"Dessert is served." Chef's voice boomed through the speakers, and the music came to an abrupt stop, causing Tyler and Lindsay to finally trip over one another. "Get your asses to the dinner table!" When nobody seemed all too fussed about rushing to the table, Chef added, "Now, maggots!" in that voice that everybody knew meant _trouble_, so they hurried on over to the table on the other side of the room.

Even DJ was surprised at how well Chef had prepared the group's meals–he knew for a fact that Chef had used all the Momma Spice DJ had given him a couple months prior, so it was possible that he was actually cooking well-made meals, all by himself. DJ couldn't help but give himself a little pat on the back for that.

"I hope you enjoy your meal," Chef gave the group one of those creepy smiles of his, and a few of the girls around the table shivered in response. "I'll be seeing you all soon." And with that, Chef swaggered on out of the hall, taking his place up in the secret room. He thought it was all a bit stupid, but this show was his one last chance to get in the public eye, so he was going to make sure it happened, goddammit. He usually wasn't fame hungry, but years in the shadow of Chris had left him bitter.

* * *

"Let's play a game!" Sadie suggested, her voice breaking the somewhat comfortable silence that had settled over the group: Katie squealed her agreement, and everyone eventually decided that a game might be a good way to pass some time. After taking some time to dissuade Lindsay from I Spy, Geoff suggested Truth or Double Truth and everyone agreed.

The questions were generally harmless, until it was Heather's turn: in hindsight, Sierra probably should've realized asking Heather a question was basically _begging _for trouble.

"So, Duncan," Heather started, her voice strangely sweet as she leaned past Courtney to look at the former delinquent. "Why did you and Gwen break up?" It was the first time Duncan and Gwen even dared looked at each other, causing a smirk to touch Heather's lips.

"Double truth." Duncan replied bluntly, not even bothering to look back at Heather.

"Okay," Heather smiled, obviously expecting Duncan not to answer her first question. "If you don't answer either of these questions, you have to kiss Harold." Harold went to object, but Leshawna slapped a hand over his mouth before he even got out a single sound: she was a little curious too, all right? "Did you break up with Gwen, or did Gwen break up with you?"

Duncan was absolutely glaring in the direction of Harold, trying to figure out whether to go along with Heather or not: on one hand, both Sierra getting her phone out to tape his smooch with Harold and _that _would totally ruin whatever was left of his reputation–on the other hand, who the fuck wanted to kiss _Harold_?

"She broke up with me." Duncan said finally, turning around to face Heather- he didn't miss Sierra's disappointed expression.

"Why did she break up with you?" Heather asked, knowing she'd trapped him: if he'd answered one question, he couldn't go back and do the dare. He could've tried to argue that she'd asked the same question twice, but both Heather and Courtney could cite why that was a total lie.

"For fuck's sake..." Duncan muttered under his breath, glancing over at Gwen for a split second: she nodded slightly. "She walked in on me fucking another chick. She let it go, but... it happened again. And again. And... well, you get it. It was a long time ago." Duncan swatted his hand, as if he was trying to bat away everyone's judgement. "I told her to break up with me, and she did."

"So, you're just a dirty rotten cheater?" Heather questioned, quirking her eyebrow as she was in Duncan's line of sight again. "It wasn't _just _Courtney–it was Gwen too. Now, that... that's what gold." Noah snorted at Heather's repetition of what Duncan had said before, whether she was aware she was simply repeating what Duncan had said earlier or not– that was just _gold_.

"Whatever." Duncan shrugged, doing his best to look like Heather's observation hadn't fazed him. And with that, the game was back to harmless questions and everyone avoiding asking Heather any questions.

It was surprisingly Geoff who bought back serious questions (to be fair, his question wasn't all that serious, but after he asked his question everyone seemed a bit more serious about the silly game), when he asked Trent why he was dating Courtney–the whole table (very nearly) seemed a little confused by the question, hell, even Trent and Courtney looked a little confused at Geoff's forwardness.

Trent answered his question though, saying that she was enough like him to not make him uncomfortable when it came to expressing his opinion (cue Gwen and Sadie's snorts of disbelief), but different enough so that they didn't have _everything _in common: they were still able to surprise each other, and show the other new ways to live.

After a couple of the girls were done swooning, the game continued and everyone slowly learnt more about one another, and how they and their lives had changed since TDWT. The game continued on after the group finished dessert, and nobody really appeared to mind. They were enjoying catching up on a more personal level, as compared to the superficial rundowns they'd gotten during entrée's and dinner.

Chris ended up excusing himself half way through the little game, and nobody was at all comforted by the smirk he was wearing as he left–a few people around the table silently cursed themselves for not asking more questions about the reunion show, as those people had their doubts and reservations about it. They chose not to dwell on it however, and continued on with the trivial (but not so trivial) game of theirs.

"Question for all of you," Sierra said loudly, glancing around the table. "If you could take back just _one _thing about your Total Drama experience, what would it be?"

And with the option for Double Truth eliminated, and the punishment being streaking through the hall, everyone realized they honestly had no choice to answer it–Geoff considered streaking for a moment, but Bridgette managed to talk him out of it.

With Justin missing, Owen was the first to answer: after a moment of two of thinking, Owen said he'd consider selling his money he'd won on the first season a little more wisely, to which everybody laughed in return–he definitely could've done that.

Izzy simply said that she'd keep Explosivo under more control, and everyone decided to leave it at that. Half the people around the table simply believed Explosivo was a scapegoat for Izzy's _way, way, way _crazy side.

Alejandro went next, and surprised nobody when he said he would've ran the hell away from the chunk of rock that crushed him to a pulp. He added that maybe he would've kept the money for himself, to which a glorious little smirk appeared on Heather's lips.

To everybody's surprise, Trent said he wouldn't actually change a thing – he explained his answer by saying that he might not be where he was today without everything that happened on Total Drama. Cue swooning.

Heather started off by saying there was a list of things she wanted to change about her experience on Total Drama- it mostly consisted of anything happening to her physical experience, but she also said she would've gotten into less alliances: everyone rolled their eyes at this, knowing Heather only ever had one real alliance, and it was with two mindless cronies.

Everyone expected Courtney to say her entire relationship with Duncan, but she actually said she would take back the way she treated some of the other contestants, but not without adding, "I stand by how I treated _some _people." And nobody missed the way her eyes flickered to Gwen for a moment, still none of them commented on it; Courtney was being strangely civil and calm, and nobody wanted to give her a reason to let loose.

Duncan actually took a while to answer, despite the time the other six contestants had bought him as they went on about what they'd take back – he was stuck between two things, but eventually decided on one. "Letting Gwen and Courtney bring me back for World Tour." A couple of snickers went around the table, but Duncan looked pretty serious about it.

Bridgette thought for a moment, before saying that she'd take back getting kicked out of TDA first, but added that it was fine, because she had her snookums (and Duncan was gonna go to town on that one, once they'd gotten back to Bridgette and Geoff's house).

Geoff went down the same road as Trent, saying that he definitely wouldn't be the same person as he was now if it wasn't for Total Drama. Even if the show had lasted with him, he would never take any of it back.

Nobody expected Gwen to give a genuine answer, but she actually surprised everyone when she said she wouldn't have made herself a target through her relationships with the guys of the competition. Heather was just about to point out that she only had relationships with two of the guys, but Trent told her to leave it – Heather didn't really listen to Trent all that much, but she figured it was for the better of not just him, but her best friend too.

Leshawna said she enjoyed almost every second of Total Drama, and that she'd simply take back whatever seconds she didn't like: Harold followed suit, but also said he'd take back his stay at Playa de Losers, to which Courtney simply smirked.

Noah said he'd prefer to take the whole experience back, stating that it really hadn't added anything to his life. And it was true – none of the kids he tutored were interested in the fact he'd been on TV five years ago. Hell, none of his friends even did.

Cody again was a bit of a surprise: everyone was expecting him to go with Geoff and Trent and say that he'd take nothing back, but he said that he'd like to take back how he'd acted towards girls – Gwen and Sierra in particular: he said that he wanted to have a few more lasting friendships, as his friendship with Noah wasn't even a product of the show; Cody was the illustrator of one of Noah's first kids favorite comic book, so Noah decided to track him down, if only for an autograph for the kid.

Zeke said he'd take back any contact with radiation, and that was that. Nobody was sure how to react to _that_, as everyone would've greatly preferred if he'd stayed away from the radiation.

DJ surprised nobody as he said that he wouldn't take back a thing: not because everything had made him the person he was today, but because the time on Total Drama was the best time of his life. And yeah, that made a couple of the girls swoon – just a bit.

Katie said she would've tried to stay in the game longer during the original show, or have more of a presence on either of the follow-up shows. Sadie said the same, but noted that she would've fought harder to last longer on Total Drama Island.

After everybody wondered where Justin and Beth had gotten to, Lindsay honestly said that she could barely remember her time on Total Drama, much to everybody's actual surprise. Even Tyler looked a little confused at Lindsay's admission.

Tyler said that he wouldn't take back a thing, simply because there wasn't all that much to take back. Meekly, however, he said that he did want to take back him being the one to tell Courtney and the group that Duncan had cheated on her with Gwen. Everyone peered at Courtney, but she didn't seem to react at all: hell, she looked a little _apologetic_ towards Tyler.

Duncan was getting _real _pissed off at this point.

Eva shrugged, choosing not to respond to Sierra's question. Sierra half wanted to remind her of the punishment, but after Trent shook his head at her, chose to keep quiet and answered her own question: she said she'd take back that cake she'd cooked Cody, but happily maintained that she didn't regret not winning the million – it wasn't the money she'd entered the competition for, but the people.

And with that, everyone thought the game was over. Until Gwen asked the group if she could ask just one _last _question, and everybody didn't really seem to care.

"Courtney, why did you get so... psycho after Duncan cheated on you?"

And everybody prepared for Hurricane Courtney.

* * *

It didn't come. Courtney remained straight-faced, albeit a small look of thoughtfulness touching her features. "I think this question comes in two parts. At least, you want two answers." Courtney said calmly, sparing Gwen a small glance. "I trusted two people in the game, only two people: you and Duncan." Courtney looked to the side as she felt all the emotions she'd felt back then come flying back. "To be betrayed by both of you, I just didn't know how to cope, to be honest."

Courtney frowned faintly, not knowing how to address the second part of her answer. "I got particularly psycho at _you_, Gwen, because... well, it wasn't because you helped Duncan cheat on me, it wasn't even because you had feelings for him – according to Tyler, Duncan kissed you, is that right?" Courtney's tone was a little desperate, and Gwen found herself nodding. "I got upset with you because... you kissed him back, Gwen. If you'd had pushed him away or kneed him in the groin, I wouldn't have gotten upset with you, but..."

Courtney left her sentence hanging there, right in the air above the table; some people had waited years for an explanation on Courtney's sheer craziness towards the end of World Tour, whilst others had given up hope on ever knowing. Some people had trouble believing what had been said – Leshawna even said so herself, but Courtney refused to comment further on the matter.

Everybody was thankful when Chef came storming back into the room, as it gave them a reason to break the awkward silence that had settled around them. "Did you enjoy your meal, maggots?" Chef asked as he collected everyone's dishes and threw them into his little box. "Good! Delinquent, Party Boy and Momma's Boy, you need to come with me." Duncan, Geoff and DJ sighed as they knew Chef was talking about them, but followed him out of the room nonetheless.

"And Gwen, don't think this little confession of mine means that any apology of yours can make us friends again." Courtney's snide remark was the last thing either of the three boys heard before being ushered into the kitchen to do the... dishes?

* * *

"This is bullshit!" Duncan complained as Geoff and DJ got to work on the task in front of them. "Seriously – who the fuck goes to a dinner party and does the _dishes_? Especially one with twenty five guests? Sounds just like the Chris McLean who used to host the damn fucking show- and just when I started to think he'd changed."

"Well, bro, you know what they say!" Geoff shrugged, seemingly unfazed by what Chef had summoned him to do. "A leopard can't change its spots." DJ hummed in agreement as he started scrubbing away at one of the plates. "'sides, this _does _give us a chance to talk without anyone hanging over our shoulder."

"I guess," Duncan conceded, still looking mightily pissed off about the situation. "You got anything you wanna talk about in private, snookums?" Duncan chuckled at Geoff's red face and grinned. "Apart from the fact Bridgette still calls you pansy-ass nicknames."

Geoff turned back to the task at hand and began drying the dishes DJ had finished scrubbing. "Well, I know you wanna talk about in private." Geoff stated, sounding strangely superior for a guy still wearing the hat he'd worn when he was 16.

"And what would that be?" Duncan asked sharply, narrowing his eyes at Geoff.

Geoff arched his eyebrow and shared a little grin with DJ as they continued working. "Trent and Mocha." Geoff said simply, putting down his dish towel and turning to Duncan – DJ mirrored his actions. "I know something you don't know!" Geoff sung in a kiddy voice, his smirk far too smug to suit his features.

"Enlighten me." Duncan said simply, trying to pretend that he wasn't curious as fuck: it wasn't that he was pissed off that Princess had gone off and hopped into bed with Elvis, it was that she seemed to be... well, different with Trent.

Geoff hesitated for half a second, before launching into his story: Duncan didn't bother to listen to most of it, but managed to pick up what he deemed most important. Basically, the story Heather and Courtney told was total bullshit – they were both working at a night club when they reunited with Trent, and Geoff explained that they were just waitresses: working to pay off the fees for Law school. Trent assumed the worst and offered to let the two girls move in with them, and even after the girls explained what was going on, the offer still stood. Within a couple weeks, the three of them were playing happy families.

Then Courtney's new boyfriend got jealous and got into a fight with Trent, and forced her to choose between him and Trent: apparently, it was a no-brainer and Courtney chose Trent. That probably should've been the end of that story, but Courtney's now ex-boyfriend liked to hold a grudge and started fucking stalking all three of them. It was Heather he was least interested in, but she and Courtney were together most of the time so she just factored into his plans.

It all came to a head one night when Courtney left the nightclub alone one night a year and a half ago and the dude tried to get her into his car: he claimed he was "keeping her safe from that singer dude", but Courtney sure as fuck didn't see it that way. Long story short, Courtney screamed until Trent heard her and he came out and saved the day. DJ quipped that he was a true knight in shining armour, forgetting that that had indeed been one of the challenges Courtney and Duncan had done together.

After that awkward moment passed, Geoff went on to say that the ex-boyfriend was actually pretty mentally-disturbed and got put in the psych ward of some hospital, and soon after he was safely locked away, Courtney and Trent began going out and they're actually a pretty good couple.

Problem was, Duncan had a hard time believing that Courtney would date a mentally disturbed guy. He said as much, but Geoff shrugged and turned to continue the task they'd all been set before saying, "Well, they'd dated for a year – Courtney probably learned to ignore it or something. She was lonely, dude. As close as her and Heather were then, I think she just missed the feeling of having a boyfriend."

Duncan pretend that didn't hurt.

* * *

"Hey, babe, you wanna go exploring?" Trent asked, leaning past Heather to see Courtney. "You can come too, Heather – hell, babe, you can ask Bridge if you want."

Bridgette and Heather both agreed, if only to see what Chris was hiding. The four excused themselves and went off to explore the mansion.

* * *

**A/N: I bet you gave up all hope I was coming back! Well, tada! I would've updated earlier, but I've been without internet all week. I dunno if you guys took notice, but I mentioned I was on holiday in the second/third chapter and we'd just gone to a new place and there was no reception!**

**Anywho, sorry for this chapter – it really isn't my best. It's kind of all over the place, but I **_**did **_**write it over three days, so I think that helps explain it a little. Thanks for being lovely!**

**ALSO, ALSO, I'm in the process of planning a new story/two-shot, so I may fall off the face of this story once again, and I'm sorry if I do so. Throw a PM my way and tell me to get back on the horse and I most definitely will.**

**Now, off to catch up on All Stars!**

**REVIEW REPLIES:**

**Guest (1): Please refrain from swearing unnecessarily whilst reviewing my story, dear. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but neither Cody or Noah are homosexual in this story. Noah has a GIRLFRIEND, and Cody has a hetero endgame. Congrats on using "fangirls" as a derogatory term, as you couldn't be more wrong.**

**Guest (2): Thank you so much, love! I did try my best to give the characters interesting back stories, but I fear they're all a little clichéd. I'm so sorry this update took so long!**

**Munchlax Jr: Ah, phew! But we'll definitely be hearing more of the ROTI cast. I'm still yet to watch the full season, so I'm not going to mention many other characters until I finish the total season. None of them will be all too prominent, but Dawn will definitely make more appearances, if that pleases you. I'd tell you the other characters I'm planning on including, but that'd be spoiler-ish, wouldn't it? And we can't have that!**

**beserkerbeast: Eheh, thank you, love. I hope you enjoy this chapter and future ones that are coming your way.**

**Next Time!: Trent and the girls go snooping, only to find the truth behind the whole reunion dinner. Gwen and Duncan have a little chat, and Geoff goes looking for Bridgette and ends up getting lost in the McLean mansion. Meanwhile, Sierra finds something disturbing on her twitter feed and shares it with Cody and Noah. **

**Will Duncan and Gwen actually have a civil conversation? Will Heather actually be nice to Bridgette? Are Justin and Beth even alive? Tune in next time to find out!**


	5. CHAPTER 4: THE REUNION IV

"I feel like I'm about to find a dead body," Bridgette announced to the trio in front of her, her voice concerned. It was completely a possibility, considering it was Chris McLean they were talking about.

Trent hummed in agreement, and voiced Bridgette's thoughts, "This _is _Chris McLean we're talking about. I'm sure he has a skeleton or two hanging around here." Nobody was sure if he was indeed talking in a figurative sense, or in a literal one, but they decided not to question the singer about it.

"So, what do you guys think of this dinner so far?" Courtney asked, obviously trying to force a conversation – Heather looked overly awkward due to Bridgette's presence, and Courtney knew that Heather was trying to decide whether to be nice or mean to the surfer, and Trent was always content to let silence swallow him up: Courtney, however, was going to get her best friend's to talk to each other, dammit! "Personally, I'm not sure why I'm still here."

There was beat of silence, before Trent decided to speak, "We can go back to the hotel room if you want." Courtney had half a mind to agree to his offer, but felt as if there was something fishy about the whole thing. "But I think it's all right. Bit awkward, but that's to be expected, right?" All three women nodded in agreement, none of them expecting the dinner to be comfortable in the least.

"I'm just waiting for Gwen or Leshawna to give me a reason to pounce on them." Heather stated plainly, but there was no mistaking how honest she truly was. "Other than that, it's been a boring night. Your party next Saturday better be more entertaining than this dinner, Courts."

Bridgette blinked at Heather, unsure of how to follow up on that: both Leshawna and Gwen were her friends, and that meant she was supposed to defend them. However, she'd seen neither hair nor hide of them since her wedding, despite the amount of times she'd tried to call them both. Deciding to leave the matter alone _for now_, Bridgette gave her answer, "I think it's been nice... catching up with everyone again." Even if Bridgette had only had private conversations with Geoff, Duncan and Courtney throughout the night – and they were the three people Bridgette _had _kept in touch with after her wedding.

"Oh, please." Heather snapped, and Courtney cursed quietly to herself. "Do you like hearing Harold talk about how much he _loves _Leshawna, and how ninja he is? How about Noah, and how he's so self-entitled now that people actually listen to him? Hell, listening to Lindsay after all these years _still _kill brain cells! I'd prefer to meet up with the actual interesting people of this bunch, and there aren't many of those."

Bridgette stayed silent, utterly clueless on how to disagree with Heather. She was right, after all. But Bridgette was far too nice to admit that, so she chose to plead the fifth and tried to change the subject. "So, what have you three been up to lately?"

"Work," Both Heather and Courtney answered passively, neither looking too interested in the new topic of conversation. Trent showed a bit more enthusiasm however, and launched into a retelling of what he'd been up to lately. A lot of it involved his tour around America, but he did talk a whole lot about the two girls walking alongside Bridgette.

"Did Heather and Courtney come see you on tour?" Bridgette asked curiously, as he neglected to mention either of them whilst telling her about his tour.

"I did, but Heather didn't." Courtney answered on Trent's behalf, shrugging. "I took a week off of work and went to his New York show. I wanted to come to his Hawaii one and drop by and see you and Geoff, but... actually, I can't remember what came up, but I couldn't." Courtney explained, her smile apologetic.

"It would've been nice to see you," Bridgette conceded, but both women knew that she wouldn't hold it against Courtney. "Geoff came to your Hawaii show, Trent! He had to leave early, since his boss called him into work, but he thought you were amazing."

Trent grinned and scratched the back of his neck abashedly. "I thought I saw him in the audience–pretty hard to miss a guy like Geoff, actually. I went looking for him after the show but I couldn't find him, so I assumed I'd just made him up or something." Trent's grin softened as he reminisced about the moment he'd thought he'd seen Geoff in the audience: he was partying, and hard at that, but what else would Geoff be doing at a concert?

"Or something?" Courtney repeated, a small hint of laughter in her tone. "Guys, I think I can hear Chris and Chef in here." Courtney jerked her head towards a door they were just about pass, and the other three quietened down, and sure enough, they could all hear Chris and Chef talking to one another.

"Wonder what they're doing in there," Heather wondered aloud, already creeping towards the door. "You'd think Chris would be down with everyone else trying to get dirt on everyone to blackmail them with." None of the others could say they were expecting Chris to do anything but what Heather had just described, but it was obvious that they were all quite wrong in their assumption.

"Just open the door, Heather." Courtney ordered, knowing that Heather would be pissed off if anyone else opened the door. Heather nodded and shoved the door open, blinking at the sheer amount of screens on the walls of the room...

They were filming the whole damn dinner.

That's when Hurricane Courtney took action, and even Heather knew she had to take cover whilst her best friend did her thing.

* * *

After the boys had finished the dishes (more like–once Geoff and DJ had finished the dishes and convinced Duncan not to leave a little 'surprise' for Chris), they returned to the dinner hall. Geoff was visibly deflated at the absence of his wife, whereas DJ happily jogged off and continued his conversation with Katie – Duncan made a note to bug DJ about his obvious little crush on the tanned girl later on.

"Hey, Gwen, did you see where Bridge went?" Geoff asked, sinking into his seat beside the goth girl. He wasn't expecting a real answer, but Gwen surprised him.

"She went off to "explore" the mansion with Trent and the witches," Gwen said, her tone lacking any real malice towards the two girls she'd branded witches. "She said she'd be back within half an hour, but that was like, twenty minutes ago." Gwen shrugged, picking daintily at the bowl of chips in front of the two.

Geoff decided that the woman was genuine in her answer, and gave her his thanks. "I'm gonna go and try to surprise her!" Without listening to Duncan's half-assed objections, Geoff was up and out of the hall before Gwen could even blink.

An awkward silence fell over the two exes, and just as Duncan was going to go and bug DJ about Katie, Gwen asked if they could talk. Usually, Duncan would've said "hell no", but he figured he owed Gwen so much more than a conversation.

"Do you think Courtney was telling the truth when I asked her why she went psycho?" Gwen asked, her voice honestly curious. Duncan had been wondering about that himself, and had wanted to ask Courtney about it when he returned from doing the dishes, but she wasn't there. "Because... I always thought it was for a completely different reason."

Duncan stayed quiet for a moment, before saying, "Me too, Pasty," He wasn't lying, not by a long shot. He'd fooled himself into thinking that Courtney still had feelings for him, and that was why she'd gone nuts after he cheated on her... but apparently not. "Look, it sounds like Courtney, right?" At Gwen's nod, Duncan pushed on, "I dunno, Gwen. I've never understood Courtney and now I probably never will."

A small smile touched Gwen's features at the familiar nickname, but she was at a loss on how to reply to her old friend. "You do realize that her and Trent are bound to break up, right?" Gwen posed a question instead, wanting to see Duncan's reaction.

"How do you figure that?" Duncan asked, and there was no denying the smallest bit of hope in his tone.

"Trent likes the cutesy shit they've got going on, yeah? He wants the whole white picket fence, three kids, that stupid dream..." Gwen trailed off, remembering how her and Trent had talked about their futures together back on Total Drama Island. "And Courtney may think she likes it, and she's probably fooled herself into thinking she does, but we both know she loves fighting and making up, and... she loves the fire and the passion – her dream relationship is what you and her had, Dunc. Minus the cheating, obviously." Her words were uncertain, but Duncan knew she was right on the money.

Duncan still didn't reply for a few moments though, considering what Gwen had said. "But... but, I don't _know _how to give her fire and passion, Gwen. It's been a long time since I've been in a relationship with a girl like Courtney... no offence."

Gwen shook her head, smiling lightly. "None taken. I always thought you still had feelings for her, even after Total Drama World Tour was done and put in the archives." Gwen's smile faded as she remember how she'd felt that one night she caught Duncan dreaming about Courtney–he didn't usually sleep talk, and that's how Gwen knew it was a good dream. She'd felt quite empty then: she should've felt heartbroken or scorned, but she didn't. At that time, Gwen hadn't really loved Duncan for a long time.

"We're better as best friends," Duncan observed, grinning at Gwen. "I mean, you were a totally hot girlfriend and all, but we've got way too much in common."

Gwen laughed softly, nodding in agreement. "Tell me about it." Gwen moved a seat along so she and Duncan were next to one another, and grinned back at him. "So, tell me what you've been up to!"

* * *

"What?!"

Sierra's shriek echoed throughout the hall, and most people paid her no mind. It'd happened a few times throughout the night, but mostly it was Lindsay doing the shrieking, not Sierra.

One person however, thought it strange that Sierra had such an outburst.

"Cody, come _on_. It's Sierra. She's weird." Noah deadpanned as he saw a little concern flash through Cody's eyes. He never really understood why Cody felt the need to accommodate Sierra's strangeness, in and out of the competition, but usually didn't bother to comment on it. Cody got defensive and a defensive Cody was awkward to be around.

Cody rolled his eyes, already half out of his seat. "No, you come on! She's my friend, and I'm going to see what's wrong." Without waiting for Noah to reply, Cody walked on over to Sierra and plopped down in Justin's old spot.

"Oh... hi, Cody!" Sierra beamed over at Cody as she glanced up from her phone, but there was no mistaking the uneasiness in those brown eyes of hers. "What's wrong?"

Cody smiled, but just as he opened his mouth, Noah was hovering awkwardly between them. "You told me to come." Noah muttered, looking out of place between the two.

The other man's eyebrow hiked, but didn't comment on it. "I think I should be asking you that." Cody replied, his smile not unkind. "What was with the outburst, Sierra?"

Sierra blinked at him, as if she was unaware she'd had any type of outburst. After a moment, Noah recollected the events to her and Sierra's eyes lit up in recognition. "I was on twitter and the... worst possible tweet popped up on my feed." Sierra's tone was grave, but both the guys had no idea what was so bad about a _tweet_.

"What was it?" Noah asked, unable to help himself. He was half-sure it'd be something stupid, and he wanted a reason to laugh at someone. Cody must've known what he was up to, as he flashed a dark glance in his direction. Noah cursed himself for letting Cody know the inner workings of his mind.

"Just... look." Sierra murmured, passing her bejewelled phone over to Cody. "Please don't drop it, Cody." Sierra added as Cody fumbled with the phone.

Noah glanced over Cody's shoulder and furrowed his brow once he saw the tweet was from Blaineley. "Isn't that the crazy chick from World Tour?" Noah questioned, looking closer to see what the tweet was even about.

** the_blaineley: **_Total Drama Reunion Show starting tomorrow night on CN! Check your guides for the info. Love, Blaineley, #chefhatchet and chrismclean xx_

A photo was attached to the tweet, and it was of Chris, Blaineley and Chef trying to squish into one picture, very obviously in front of a wall of TV's filled with the faces of the former campers.

"What?!" Cody and Noah repeated, albeit on a lower decibel than Sierra. "You're joking." Noah added, his eyes flashing.

Sierra shook her head gravely, taking her phone back from Cody's grasp. "I checked Chris' twitter page, and he's been tweeting about us all night. See, look here." Sierra tapped a few times at her phone, and passed it back over to the two men.

** chrismclean**: _it's staaaarting! #tdreunion_

** chrismclean**: _everyone's here but duncan. let the drama begin? #tdreunion_

** chrismclean: **_yawn. #tdreunion_

** chrismclean: **_courtney and trent have got some hot new partners! can't wait for you guys to see! #tdreunion_

** chrismclean**: _duncan is in the building, my friends. i can feel the tension already! #tdreunion_

** chrismclean: **_a game of truth or double truth has just started. i'm excited for you guys to see what these guys are answering/asking. #tdreunion_

** chrismclean**: _GASP. courtney's just opened up about why she went loco-coco after duncan cheated on her. bit boring, but it's the second best goss of the night. #tdreunion_

** chrismclean**: _stop bitching about me only talking about courtney and duncan. everyone else is boring as heck! #tdreunion_

** chrismclean**: _fine, here you go: gwen's emo, leshawna's not in love with harold, harold's in love with leshawna, noah and cody are BFFLS and zeke's human again... #tdreunion_

** chrismclean**: _DJ and katie are flirting, sadie's sulking, beth's MIA with justin, lindsay's still dumb, tyler's still clumsy, eva won't talk, sierra's tweeting too... so check her out sierra_brown #tdreunion_

** chrismclean**: _alejandro still 3's heather, trent's in love, heather's slightly less bitchy, courtney's less uptight, duncan's less delinquent-y, bridgette hasn't changed, and neither has geoff. literally. #tdreuinion_

** chrismclean**: _ABORT MISSION. COURTNEY, TRENT, HEATHER AND BRIDGETTE HAVE FOUND US. ABORT MISSION!_

** chrismclean**: _CHECK US OUT TOMORROW ON THE CN! #tdreunion_

"I wonder if Chris is still alive..." Cody wondered aloud, causing Noah and Sierra to laugh a little. "Seriously, Courtney and Heather? Dude is dead."

Noah shrugged. "If he's not, I'll kill him myself."

* * *

Soon after Noah's threat, Trent and Bridgette reappeared in the hall and the other three people who were aware of Chris' trick basically flocked to them.

"We know," Noah explained, seeing their confused faces. "About Chris filming us."

Their faces softened, and they both sighed. "Courtney basically ripped Chris a new one: I don't think she even noticed Blaineley in the corner." Trent answered their unspoken question, and smiled a little at his girlfriend's actions: she might've been crazy, but she was pretty damn beautiful whilst being crazy.

"I didn't expect anything else from Courtney," Cody mused, remembering how Courtney had treated Harold back at Playa De Losers. "Where are her and Heather, anyway?"

Bridgette shrugged, looking confused herself. "Court told us to head back here and that they'd catch up..."

Sierra nodded, and glanced over Bridgette's shoulder to see if either of them were making their way back yet. "What'd Heather do? It's not like her to let Courtney do all the bitching!" Cody and Noah nodded in agreement, almost wanting to ask the question themselves.

"Smashed a couple of the screens," Trent shrugged as he answered, remembering how Heather had chucked her shoes at the screens with the faces of the four of them on the screens. "I think she just wanted something to do, to be honest." Trent chuckled, and Bridgette giggled along.

"Anywho... I'm gonna go talk to my Geoffy!" Bridgette waved goodbye and skipped in Duncan's direction, as she assumed that Geoff would be in Duncan's general vicinity, or– at the very least, Duncan would know where Geoff was.

Cody glanced after Bridgette, his eyebrow furrowing slightly. "You know, I haven't seen Geoff since Chef took him out with DJ and Duncan." His tone was casual, but he was honestly very confused: both DJ and Duncan had returned about half an hour ago, but he'd not seen neither hide nor hair of the party boy.

Before anyone else could comment, Bridgette was dragging Duncan, who was dragging DJ, who was dragging Katie, who was dragging Sadie, out the door.

Even Noah let out a short chortle at the sight.

* * *

"Hey, guys!" Courtney's voice echoed throughout the hall, as the loudest people had left on a quest to find Geoff. "Can you make sure Chris doesn't go anywhere?" Harold was about to ask _where _Chris even was, but Heather followed Courtney into a hall, tugging Chris in by his very red ear. "I ran into Bridge and I'm gonna help her go find Geoff, okay?" Trent got up to follow her, but Courtney shook her head with a small smile as she darted back out of the hall.

"What's goin' on, Chris?" Leshawna asked, not wanting to ask Heather anything: she seemed nicer, sure, but she was probably capable of eating everyone's head off still.

Chris looked helpless as Heather responded, "He's got some _explaining _to do." with a tone so sharp Leshawna was sure it could've cut Harold's head off. "But he's not starting until everyone's back here."

A brief silence fell over the hall, until Eva asked, "Well, what about pretty boy and Beth? Nobody's looking for them." Everyone blinked at the question, as if they'd forgotten about Justin and Beth.

Heather frowned, looking at Trent. "Can you please go find them for me, Trent?" She let out a sigh of relief at Trent's nod and the man was out of the hall within seconds.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this took so long! I was distracted by tumblr and didn't get to writing this up. It's not very good, I'll admit, especially towards the end– however, it's all you'll be getting for a little while, I think. Like I mentioned in last chapter's A/N: I'm planning out a new story/two-shot, but it's most likely going to be a new story.**

**In saying that, this new story is a 100% Duncney story! I was in the Duncney category, and realized there were very few long angsty stories in the actual angst category. The ones there were fabulous, however, and I want to add to that. So, that story is currently my number one priority and I'm sorry about that! **

**I'm off to watch the new Glee episode. Remember, reviews DO make me inspired to write more – I might even make this story my number one priority for a night or two if I get a good enough response to this chapter. Don't feel pressured to review, though! I'm not trying to force you too. I just **_**would **_**like some more response. :)**

**ALSO ALSO ALSO, I almost forgot. The last chapter is the last one in the "The Reunion" arc. The next little "arc" centres around Courtney, Duncan, Geoff and Bridgette – though Duncney is pretty prominent in the story already. I must note that the next arc won't have as many chapters as this one. It'll probably have half the amount, actually, as it's just the gang watching Disney movies and Duncan protesting vehemently. **

**REVIEW REPLIES:**

**Munchlax Jr: All right, all right. (; I'm planning on bringing Zoey in, for sure, and Scott's already been alluded to. Here's a game for you, lovely: if you can guess who Scott is (he's been mentioned in this story ONCE, so good luck), I'll do anything you want. Of course, it must be within reason! ;)**

**SkorpionQueen012: Thank you, deary. :) I hope it continues being awesome!**

**Next time!: Once all the contestants are rounded up, Chris explains his actions. **

**Will the group kill Chris when he comes clean? Will Trent tell Courtney his bad news? Will Sierra tell Heather and Courtney Blaineley was in the recording room too? Tune in next time to find out!**


	6. CHAPTER 5: THE REUNION V

About half an hour after Trent left the hall to search for Beth and Justin (everyone was silently thankful that it was Trent who went after them, as they had been giving each other some _serious _bedroom eyes on the dance floor and during dinner), everyone had returned to the dining hall: Bridgette had been gripping onto Geoff's arm tightly, as if he might get lost again if she let go for the entire time, and Duncan was about five seconds away from tearing the two apart; Trent had looked absolutely traumatised and Heather had 'oh-so-kindly' offered to let Trent sit in her seat next to Courtney so his girlfriend could comfort him; and there was no denying the serious sex hair Beth and Justin had going on.

"Chris has something he wants to tell all of us," Heather repeated, taking her seat between Trent and Alejandro. "So, Chris, you can tell us now!" Heather smiled at her old host, but her smile lacked any true warmth.

Chris glared at the black-haired girl, mumbling something under his breath nobody really cared to catch: he was probably cursing the two girls' which had foiled his plans, despite the fact it wasn't _just _Heather and Courtney who had caught Chris and his comrades. "Look, we're filming the dinner, and putting it in the reunion show which starts tomorrow on the CN." Chris' tone wasn't apologetic in the least, and he certainly didn't seem apologetic for going behind the contestants' back.

"What?!" Alejandro broke the deafening silence that had swallowed the room, and his voice, whilst hated by most of the people around the table, was a welcome icebreaker. "Is that legal?" Alejandro added, glancing at Heather and Courtney.

The two women stared at each other, before Heather shrugged and Courtney answered, "The fine print's a bitch." her statement was simple, but managed to confuse the majority of people around the table. "Oh, you all look constipated!" Courtney griped, a little bit of the Courtney they'd all loved to hate on the show coming through. "Basically, we all signed up for _five _seasons. Sierra and Alejandro only signed up for three. But if you weren't in Total Drama Action or World Tour, you still have three or four more seasons on your contract." Courtney explained, her voice strangely empty as she delivered the bad news; at least she had the decency to look apologetic, unlike the grinning host in front of them.

Bridgette tilted her head to the left slightly, before asking, "So, Geoffy hosted Aftermath in World Tour... does that exclude him from having three seasons left instead of two?"

Before Courtney could even ponder this question, Chris cut in, "Nope! Sorry, Geoffy-boy. We hadn't expected Aftermath when we wrote up those contracts, so you've got three seasons left, whilst your lady love has only got two left on her number!"

Geoff visibly deflated, but not as much as a few of the others who had realized that they had four seasons left on their contract, as opposed to some of the others who only had two, much like Bridgette.

"That's totally unfair, though." Katie voiced her opinion, turning around to face Chris for the first time in the conversation. "How were we supposed to know that we had five seasons on our contract? We were sixteen when we signed them! That's not the legal age in Canada."

Chris narrowed his eyes at her, already having had this conversation with the two law students that had ruined his recording room.

"His lawyers found a way around it," Heather answered icily. "Our parents also signed them – they thought it was just them signing guardianship over to Chris whilst we were filming the shows, but they were actually signing the contracts for us."

A small silence fell over the group once again, before Duncan broke it, "But- but we're legal now! Wouldn't we have to resign for ourselves? Hell... we would've had to do that for World Tour!"

"... Dammit, Chris!" It wasn't Courtney or Heather who realized what Chris had done, but Leshawna. "You forged our damn signatures, didn't you? Dammit, Chris, that's low."

Chris shrugged, looking quite bored with the conversation. "I didn't have to forge all of yours! A couple of you were still seventeen all the way during World Tour." It was a lame excuse, and many of the disgruntled adults around the tables said as much.

"Who the fuck was still seventeen in World Tour?" Duncan questioned, glancing around the room as a couple of the others put their hands up: Cody, Noah, Tyler, Katie, Sadie, Sierra, Beth and Courtney all put their hands up, and whilst he wasn't surprised for the most part, he narrowed his eyes over at Tyler. "Seriously, dude?"

Tyler shrugged in response, not knowing how to respond to that – how was he supposed to help how old he was?

"Which _means_..." Courtney cut in, looking high and mighty. "We have to resign the contracts for you to be able to air the reunion special!" Chris' eyes widened, as if he hadn't factored that little fact in. "Hah, McLean, I've got you now! You can't air anything with the eight of us in the shot, and there's no way you got anything worth airing with us out of the shot."

Chris was momentarily speechless, unsure of how he was supposed to work his way around that. "... Go home. All of you! Get out of here, scram, whatever. I'll call you next week." Chris motioned them out of the hall, his tone fully fed up with the twenty four people around the table.

"Don't bother calling," Noah said simply. He was the first one to get up, and was the first one to leave the hall – nobody hesitated when it came to following him, and it wasn't very long before Chris was standing alone at the head of the room.

A full minute passed before Chris managed to say anything. ".. And it was going so well." His tone was sulky, but he was already trying to figure out how in the world he was going to trick the eight people who had to resign contracts into doing so.

* * *

**A/N: So, I updated faster than I expected. XD I got busy watching RotI and I couldn't be buggered working on the new story I've got in mind, so I'm pushing it back quite a while. Until then, there'll be a story running parallel with this one! It's just a silly chatroom one, but it'll give the characters who don't get too much spotlight in the ACTUAL story more development, as well as some more story developments. Keep in mind, this story is taking place in Hawaii: only Geoff and Bridgette live in Hawaii, so everyone's bound to head back home at some point. (Someone's heading home/alluded to going home in the first chapter of the spinoff, which is why I thought I'd make this clear as it's pretty hazy in the story.)**

**BUT, like I said, I'm finally watching RotI and wow! I'm pretty surprised by these guys - I thought they were all dead weights (don't hurt me), but they've turned out pretty great. I just finished ep 7, and I'm pretty glad Anne Marie (is that even her name?)'s gone, she was getting on my nerves. I guess knowing the elimination order has ruined the show for me a little, but it's still pretty great.**

**But the spinoff shall be up either later tonight, or this time tomorrow and it shall be called: set me free, leave me be; just to run with the song I named THIS story after. If you didn't know, it's 'Gravity' by Sara Bareilles! Great song, I recommend it. **

**And lastly (but not really because review replies and sneak peak), the next mini-arc shall be known as 'Courtney's Birthday'! Since it's her birthday and all. It focuses on Courtney, Duncan, Geoff and Bridgette but also features Trent, Heather and possibly Gwen. If Gwen's included, it'll be in the second part, not in the first.**

**REVIEW REPLIES:**

**Ironwood811: In the story? Three chapters from now (probably). Overall? They've already gotten their mack on, babe! ;D**

**MunchlaxJr: I always spell your penname wrong and go to publish the chapter and go 'OH GOD WHAT NO I SPELT IT WRONG'. But, in case you didn't get my message: no, that's not Scott's role! Good guess, though- I'd guess Beth's husband too.**

**Next Time!: Courtney shows up on Geoff's doorstep, so he can hold up his side of the bargain. Bridgette decides to do some meddling and drags Duncan into their plans. **


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